Hope Cultivation Program
by Zenvix
Summary: It's been two years since the Remnants of Despair were captured. Since then, the world has been making much needed progress to restore it the way it once was. It's because of this that Future Foundation has opened a program of searching talents much like Hope's Peak once did, but they didn't learn of their past, as a new killing game has begun. SYOC closed.
1. The Beginning

_It's so huge._

That was the first thought that entered my brain when I saw the nearly sky-touching building that was in front of me. I know it's supposed to be a symbol of how high hope can reach, always above everyone else, always protecting them. But at this moment I didn't feel any of that, the building was really intimidating with those cameras posted on all exits of the building. This is supposed to be an inspiration to people, but with the way it constantly observes me, I can't help but feel a bit unnerved.

This _is_ the Future Foundation headquarters building after all. With all it's glory and all it's menace, much like Hope's Peak once was. The sole mention of that place makes my blood boil a bit, with _all th se ul…_

 _Calm down, this isn't what I'm here for. This is finally my chance._ I told myself, as I double-checked my formal wear making sure I was appropriate. It was really hard getting this clothes, even when everything is finally calming down.

It's been two years since the so called Remnants of Despair were taken care of, leaving the world a breathing space for going back to it's former glory. Even though the Future Foundation has been making it's best to make order and force the law on everyone, most people still watch every corner and carry at least one weapon with them at all times, there's also those that want this madness to continue forever and ever. It's because of this that Future foundation has taken a new project, the Hope Cultivation Program, or HCP to shorten it. It has a fancy name, but in reality it's just the same exact thing that Hope's P… _thAt_ school did, but this t!me it "will be much mor2 secure".

Any'ways, I was called #o this place be(ause of my Ult%ate $%$·"·, saying th?t I was ch sen to participate.

Growing my determination, I (reluctantly)finally step inside the building, suddenly feeling everything (die)grow apart, as if my (existence)reality fades away bit by bit, like I'm(losing consciousness)dying, as my (mind)being is taken apart, until finally, I (stopped existing)died.

* * *

AN: Well, this is just another SYOC in this fandom that I love so much, I've been toying with this idea for a while now, growing interest each time I sended an OC to another story, that I finally decided to get on with it. While this _is_ my first SYOC, it's not my first story (though in this account it does says it is, it's because this is an alt). We've just finished the SYOC, so down below you can see all submitions, the accepted and the rejected ones.

 **Accepted OCs**

Males:

— Tomoya Kasasagi (protagonist) - Ultimate Rescuer

— Shing Takashi - Ultimate Code Decipher

— Katsuro Akiyama - Ultimate Music Box Maker

— Luke Starkson - Ultimate Constructor

— Itsuki Nishikawa - Ultimate Ocularist

— Kaiza Taiyo - Ultimate Knife Fighter

— Yoshiki Aoshima - Ultimate Nail Painter

— Alex Ryder - Ultimate Historian

Females:

— Ameko Amane - Ultimate Voice Actress

— Alyssia Heartstone - Ultimate Makeup Artist

— Mio Himi - Ultimate Sketch Artist

— Suzume Iona - Ultimate Hypnotist

— Nina Ziegler - Ultimate Blogger

— Mitsuru Banba - Ultimate Sukeban

— Saori Oinuma - Ultimate Florist

— Chiyuri Oshita - Ultimate Firefighter

 **Rejected:**

— Masaru Ken (protagonist) - Ultimate Motivational Speaker

— Koji Kusuhara (protagonist) - Ultimate Spy

— Aseru Kurakata (protagonist) - Ultimate Steampunker

— Shintsuki Nakuka - Ultimate Reaper

— Aya Sonozaki - Ultimate Seamstress

— Ethal Alberta - Ultimate Chandler

— Riku Hanatsuki - Ultimate Novelist

— Otome Ichihara - Ultimate Toy Maker

— Isobel Homez - Ultimate Competitive Eater

— Luna Yazuki - Ultimate Graphic Designer

— Angela Spade - Ultimate Coroner

— Roland Carver - Ultimate Armorer

 **I want to thank all the people who sent their character, even if it was rejected. It's fun to look at all the character people make.**


	2. Prologue 1

Blackness was the sight in front of me.

Nothing else that I can describe, it's just pure black, not being able to see even my own body kind of darkness. I tried to recollect my thoughts, trying to find some kind of sense, but something was blocking it, like if the thoughts melted just before reaching my head. I tried to move, to scream, but my body didn't respond to me, seemingly vanishing from existence. What's more, it would seem like I was being taken away from myself, my mind being played and toyed with. It didn't take me long to realize what was happening. I was being erased. I tried to fight it, but I didn't know how. It was only a second before I disappeared that one selfish question raised through the fog that was my mind, fighting it's way through to let me know my last real thought.

 _Why me?_

* * *

I felt something in my shoulder, it was… shaking me? I had a hard time telling if it was my own imagination or if someone was really shaking me. After a while, it stopped before it started shaking even harder that before, announcing that I was definitely not imagining anything. Trying to open my eyes, a groan escaped my mouth, making whoever was shaking me stop the action.

"Hey are you alright?" A male voice said, though slightly feminine, trying to get a response from me. I reluctantly open my eyes, soaking on the ambient around me.

It was a bit hard to focus, but I managed somehow. I started by taking a look around, only to be surprised that I, somehow, awoke on a shoes store, or at least what I thought it was. The scenery was filled with shoes, most in a shelf of some kind differentiated by the type, with brown painting plastered in the walls, I also found out that I was sitting in a couched bench. I then turned my attention to the two persons that were next to me, a man and a woman I recognized, who were patiently waiting for me to get out of my stupor. The boy was short, having a light brown hair with some kind of bowl cut and a feminine face of a 15 years old, he seemed to have greyish-purple kind of eyes with long eyebrows, further reinforcing the previous statement. He appeared to be wearing a red jacket with some white patterns in it, gray pants and black shoes, though what was interesting of him was some kind of silver pocket watch on a pocket in the chest area of the jacket. He was wearing concerned expression on his face as he was patiently waiting for me to talk.

The other one was a girl, which was waiting behind the boy in front of me. She seemed to have short black hair that barely touched her shoulders with straight hairbangs, the sides of her hair having some sort of raindrop shaped hairclips. I have to admit, her face was quite attractive, her skin was smooth and white and her long eyebrows remarked her blue eyes, though she did appear to have a sharp look in them. She was wearing an orange dress reaching to her knees with a darker type of orange jacket ending below her chest with white frilly hems. Her dress seemed to be wearing ribbons that were blocking her zipper and a sequin in her shoulder, with some golden flat shoes to go with it. While not exactly tall, she seemed to be higher than the average, fixed with an upright stature.

By observing them, I realized that I didn't check my state of dress. I looked down to a mirror that was on the floor, it was a shoe store after all, seeing that I was wearing a suit. I had short black hair, a lock of hair standing slightly up, and blue eyes. While my body appeared to be fit, my muscles didn't really show through the clothes, giving an average body form. I was wearing a black business jacket with a white dressing shirt, accompanied by a dark blue tie. I had simple black dressing pants and shoes.

When I finally soaked in the ambience, I directed my attention back to the two of them. There's the possibility that they are my kidnappers, but even then I should ask instead of using violence, especially if they indeed are my kidnappers.

"Where am I?" I asked the persons in front of me.

"I don't really know, we're in the same situation, you and I" said the boy in front of me.

"U-umm… excuse me but, were you invited to the HCP?" Asked the girl timidly.

"How do you know that?" I asked back threateningly, this guys were getting more and more suspicious, they might actually be dangerous.

"Oh that's right! You and I both were invited after all" said the boy to the girl. After seeing my confused face, he went back to my attention, giving me a smile. "My name's Takashi Shing, nice to meet you"

 **SHING TAKASHI  
** _ **Ultimate Code Decipherer**_

The girl shyly followed after him "I... umm… I'm Amane Ameko. Nice to meet you..."

 **AMEKO AMANE  
** _ **Ultimate Voice Actress**_

After they both introduced themselves, it seemed appropriate to introduce myself as well "I see… well I am Kasasagi Tomoya"

 **TOMOYA KASASAGI  
** _ **Ultimate Rescuer**_

"Anyways, what was that about being invited to the HCP? The last thing I remember was stepping in the building before passing out" I asked them, trying to find some type of answer to my questions. However, it wasn't very successful.

"You've just described what happened to the two of us, we don't really know what is happening. Ameko woke me up about 10 minutes ago, it took me a while to calm down so it's not that long since we started moving. It seems we are in some sort of shopping mall" He answered.

This is weird. This might actually be some sort of serial kidnapping to screw with Future Foundation, if what this guys are saying is true, then there should be a lot more people in here. If someone really captured all of us because of that, then we should move carefully, we don't know if someone dangerous is roaming through here, we need to act carefully. I guess I can trust them, they don't seem to mean any harm.

"E-excuse me, To-... emm… eh..." The girl focused her attention on me, only to interrupt herself when she was about to say my name.

"You can call me Tomoya if you want" I said with a smile on my face.

"Okay, then what's your talent T-Tomoya?" She asked.

"I'm the Ultimate Rescuer I guess" I said while scratching my neck. I never really felt too identified with that title, it just seems too… cheesy I guess? I mean, sure, I've helped people and I've worked with firefighters in the tragedy, but still… it just doesn't feel right, it's like they're telling me I can save everyone, even when I can't.

"O-oh, that's really impressive! Mine is Ultimate Voice Actress" The girl said shyly, while averting her eyes. I focused my eyes to the boy, waiting for him to mention his talent, but he was just… staring at the girl?

"Umm… Takashi, are you okay?" Said uncomfortably the girl. He seemed to wake up from his trance.

"Oh, right, my talent is Ultimate Code Decipherer. But nevermind that, your talent is rescuer? If that's so, we should be able to escape from here, right?" Said the boy with hope in his eyes. It's because of this that my talent seems inappropriate, I don't know where the hell am I in the first place, much less how to escape. How can I possibly be of help like this?

"I'm sorry, but I don't even know where we are, I'm no more helpful than you guys are right now. Either way we should start moving, perhaps we can find survivors or an exit. Let's go emm… how do you want me to call you?" I asked as I started getting up on my feet, the wound in my back stung a little but nothing too bad.

"I don't mind how you call me" "Please call me Ameko" Takashi and Ameko respectively answered.

I tried to smile at them to give them some sort of comfort, it's the least I can do. "Very well, let's go"

— _ **Ground floor, clothing sector, 14:23**_

We exited the store from where I woke up, while I took a peek at my wrist watch. It says that the hour is 14:23, I tried to remember what time it was when I entered the Future Foundation's building, but I couldn't really remember. Once we were out in the open, I could see that, indeed, we were in a shopping mall that was… surprisingly clean, unlike most things I've seen in the last few years. The floor was shiningly clean and the two trees that decorated the place were healthier than the few trees I've seen, even by looking up, I could see that the window in the roof was crystal clear, showing off a blue sky. By looking up, I could tell that the place was pretty big, with about 4 floors available, including the first floor where I was actually in. I lowered my sight to the floor I was right now, apparently the first floor, which had about 3 shops. One was a shoe store from where I woke up, the other one was a male's clothing store with the final one a female's clothing store. There were two gates with shaded glass on the opposing sides of the room, making it unable to see anything beyond it, I assumed that it connected to the rest of the mall, and right at the center of the place was a small bench with two trees at each end, cameras were positioned on the entrance of each store and at the opposing gates.

I internally sighed at seeing all this, what kind of mess did I get myself into? "Did you guys wake up in this place?" I asked.

"Takashi woke up in that b-bench, right in the middle of the room. I w-woke up in that clothing store" She responded as she pointed towards the women clothing store.

"So you haven't went through those gates yet?" I continued my questions.

"No, we wanted to check this area first, thinking we could find other people in here. Ameko said that there was nothing in the girl's clothing store" Answered Takashi thoughtfully. "We still haven't checked the man's clothing store though, I suggest we check that out"

I agreed with his remark and leaded towards said place, Takashi pondering about something and Ameko fidgeting while tailing behind me. It was when I was crossing the doors that Takashi decided to speak out.

"You know… I've been thinking about it since I woke up, but this place just doesn't seem right, it's just… too clean, like if people hadn't been here for ages but still managed to not get a particle of dust. It seems like some sort of a grand opening, but there's no way that's possible right?" He asked with a confused face.

"And with the tragedy, I doubt there would be any mall that wasn't looted" Said Ameko quietly as she continued the thought process.

"That did occur to me a bit ago, but I can't really think of an explanation for it" I answered slightly frustrated at myself. "Let's just search for now, we can sit down and think about all of this later"

They both agreed and continued on searching for anything of interest. Alas, there was nothing here. After double checking each corner, we decided that, indeed, we should search onto another sector. We agreed to go to the one on our left first, since it was closer than the other one.

"I wonder if there are any more people that we-were kidnapped in here" Ameko reflected.

"There should be, I mean, if it's true that the one behind our kidnapping is targeting the ones selected to the HCP, then there should be a lot more people" Said Takashi with a meditating expression.

I followed his statement. "Either way, we should encounter with them eventually if we are all indeed trapped in here"

True, answered Takashi back as he stepped in front of me and opened the gates.

— _ **Ground Floor, food sector, 14:30**_

Once I entered the place, I was greeted with the sight of a big room with many tables spreaded across the ground, with some trees decorating the place and a fountain right at the center. It seemed that there were two stores, one was a small market that seemed to sell snacks and whatnot, while the other one was some kind of restaurant, there were some stairs in the side though. When I looked up I saw that, like the other sector, there were 3 more floors above us. I searched to see if there was anything of interest, until I saw a girl sitting in one of the tables. Apparently she was… doing makeup? She was seeing herself in a small mirror while putting some sort of pink dust on her, I don't really know the name of those things. I stepped closer to be able to see her better, Takashi and Ameko following by my side, though I couldn't help but notice that Ameko seemed to be dragging herself, apparently having trouble at walking, I scratched it off as another incident from the many that the tragedy brought, I knew plenty of people with physical problems after all.

Once I was close enough, I was able to see how she was. If I had to explain how she looked in one word, I'd say that she looked like some sort of doll. She had long, wavy reddish hair that sprawled behind her back. Her eyes were a dark brown, but what made her look like a doll was her skin. The clear pale skin of hers seemed incredibly smooth, her face was smooth with rosy cheeks, probably because of the thing she was using before. When I looked closely, I saw that she had makeup on, though it is pretty hard to spot if you don't pay attention, the only reason I suspected it was because I saw her using some. She was wearing a dark pink chiffon dress with a white ribbon sash on her waist, ending with a big bow on her back, below her waist she was wearing some pale pink stockings with a pair of white high heels with ribbons on her feet, her dress ending a bit below her knees. She too was wearing two sparkling butterfly clips, a red one on her left and a black one on her right, on her wrists I noticed that she was also wearing two pearl bracelets, one with red ribbons on her right and one with black ribbons on her left, giving her an assymetric look when compared with her hair clips. She seemed to be about the height of Ameko, and her posture sent a strange aura, or so to speak, that made it seem like she is some kind of powerful or rich girl, she didn't seem japanese either.

But when we were going to say something, the girl still not noticing us as she was concentrated on her makeup, the gates from where we came in opened, showing a pairing of a boy and a girl yelling at us.

"Hey, wait up!" Said the girl as she had trouble following the boy that was sprinting to us. The boy seemed to slow down as he saw our group of 4, the girl finally catching up to him. While the boy looked at us, the girl who was sitting with the hand mirror spoke up frightened.

"Who are you, where am I?" Asked the girl nervously, probably thinking that she was in danger. The girl was alternatingly looking at us, starting with Ameko and finishing with the other girl. The question floated in the silence for a while until Takashi broke it.

"Were you guys invited to the HCP too?" Asked Takashi, possibly trying to confirm his theory. When the pair of newcomers opened their eyes slightly, only to be filled with understanding a bit later, he knew he was on point.

"So they're really targeting the ones who were invited" I muttered before seeing the pair that walked in, not having a clear look of the before.

The boy's hair was dark blue with a fringe that went from his right to his left, it seemed that there were three red pin wires attached to it. His skin tone was slightly dark and his eyes were gray. He seemed to be wearing a black blazer with a light blue shirt underneath, accompanied with a tie with striped red and black colors. He had long black pants and was wearing some dark brown court shoes. While I was looking at him, I realized that he was staring back at me, as if he expected me to say something.

I slightly cleared my throat and introduced myself. "I'm Kasasagi Tomoya, Ultimate Rescuer, our group seems to be in the same situation. All of us were kidnapped when we went to the invitation of the HCP" I finished my introduction, trying to explain the situation as simple as possible all together.

He nodded at himself for the information and continued to introduce himself. "I'm the Ultimate Music Box Maker, Akiyama Katsuro is my name"

 **KATSURO AKIYAMA  
** _ **Ultimate Music Box Maker**_

The girl with the makeup standed up, having a feeling of slight indignation.

"Hey! What are you guys talking about, what is happening, why am I here, someone give me an explanation!" She demanded as she took a poised stance, though it seemed like a slight tantrum.

"C-calm down first and we'll explain" Said the girl that came with Akiyama, who was silent until now.

Looking at her I saw that she had her hair blond hair in a long ponytail fixed with a blue hair tie. Her eyes seemed brown as a fringe from her hair blocked her left eye. Her stature was quite small, around Takashi's height. She was wearing a somewhat revealing blue dress accompanied with some high heels. She was wearing some colored bands, red and black on her left wrist and orange and pink in her right, she seemed to be carrying some sort of blue satchel. By the way she was acting, it seemed like she was pretty shy of us, kinda like Ameko, I thought to myself.

As the rest of us was looking at her, she seemed to fidget with her wristbands even more than before. "H-hello... I'm Himi Mio... um the Ultimate Sketch Artist, and you guys are?"

 **MIO HIMI  
** _ **Ultimate Sketch Artist**_

The apparently rich girl softened her expression with a smile and proceeded to represent herself to us. "My name is Alyssia Heartstone, pleased to make your acquaintance"

 **ALYSSIA HEARTSTONE  
** _ **Ultimate Makeup Artist**_

The rest of my group presented themselves as we explained what we gathered from our time awake. The rest of the new members of our improvised group seemed to soak in the information as we told them about the things we found out, which regrettably, it wasn't nearly enough. It was then that I remembered something.

"By the way, from where did you come from?" I asked to Akiyama and Himi both. They seemed to come from the clothing sector, but I'm sure we checked the whole place for people.

"From the sector over there" Said Akiyama softly, while pointing to the clothing sector. Ameko seemed to take notice too.

"B-but we just came from that place, there was nobody there when we ch-checked" Said Ameko confused.

Himi answered her question. "Umm… that's because when we entered the place, we just saw your group go in, s-so Akiyama and I followed you" Said while playing softly with her wristbands, seemingly very uncomfortable.

"That's why I ran to catch up with you. By the way, the other gate is connected to the furnitures sector" Said Akiyama.

Alyssia started to speak up. "Anyway, what should we do. There must be some way we can get out right?"

"I haven't seen an exit yet, what about you Akiyama" I said.

"Himi and I checked the furnitures sector, but we didn't see anything." Akiyama answered.

I sighed as I began thinking on what to do now. "I guess we should keep moving, there should be an exit around here. Hey Alyssia, where did you wake up from, also, did you check this sector?"

"I woke up from the restaurant over there, I haven't checked the market nor the stair though" Alyssia responded.

Himi shyly pipped in the conversation"I guess… we should go check the market first? I mean, we have to check the place… right?"

With no objections, I started heading to the market only to realize that Takashi was strangely quiet all this time, I silently sneaked a peek on him, only to see him somewhat starstruck by looking at the girls.

 _C'mon, this really isn't the time Takashi._ I thought as I internally sighed, I guess it doesn't really matter but we should really get back on our heads and think about this.

We checked the market, but there was nothing of real interest inside, the place was quite small, kind of like a market in a gas station, and selled some snacks and beverages, nothing you can call real food really. Disappointingly, we went to the stairs to see if there was something in the second floor.

But when we climbed the stairs, collective gasps sounded in the group, as we stumbled upon a giant fence blocking our path. I tried to agitate a bit, see if it can be opened, but the effort was futile. It was when I heard a quiet groan near me that I realized that a girl was sitting against the fence right at my side, she seemed to be just waking up as everyone looked at her.

She seemed to be quite the average girl, no special traits that I could see about her, she wasn't particularly curvy or slender, but neither was she muscular nor overweight. She was about as tall as Alyssia and Ameko, though slightly shorter. Her skin was brown, accompanied with a pixie cut dark brown hair, which had a flower pin clip attached. She was wearing a pair of flower earrings in her ears, as she was wearing a white dress with a pink ribbon in her waist, with some sort of blue high heel shoes. When she opened her eyes, I saw that her eyes were blue.

She loudly groaned as she rubbed her forehead. "What happened?" She asked.

Ameko and Alyssia went to her side, Alyssia crouching to be at face level while Ameko kept an upright position.

Alyssia softly spoke. "It seems that they kidnapped all of us, you were invited to the HCP, right?" She nodded. "Well, all of us were also invited. I'm Alyssia, Ultimate Makeup Artist"

Ameko seemed to follow her words. "My n-name's Amane Ameko, we're here to help you"

After that, everyone else followed their presentations, as each time the girl seemed to calm slightly down. It was when Akiyama finished his presentation that she had a slight smile on her face, seemingly being more comfortable than before now that she knows we aren't a threat.

"Nice to meet you all" She said with a smile. "The name's Suzume Iona, my talent is Ultimate Hypnotist, or as my friends like to call me, Ultimate Annoyer"

 **IONA SUZUME  
** _ **Ultimate Hypnotist**_

The air seemed to change to a friendly ambient, a much needed rest to be honest. She seemed to talk to some people before she started checking her pockets.

I took notice of what she was doing and asked. "What are you doing?"

She looked up at me as she answered. "I'm checking my pockets, maybe there's something in there"

...I'm an idiot. Why didn't it occur to me before?!... Well, I guess to be fair I haven't had a breathing room until now.

Suzume seemed to see my expression as she asked with a slight smile on her face. "What, you didn't do it? And here I thought you were the Ultimate Rescuer" She said jokingly

"I totally forgot, wait a sec" I answered slightly embarrassed, I started checking my pockets to see if I had something in them.

What I found was that there was one thing that wasn't supposed to be there and one thing that disappeared. The painkillers for my wound were gone, instead, a small electric pad was in there. I took it out and tried to turn it on, only to discover that it didn't appear to work. I looked around to see that the girl also pulled the exact same pad as mine, also not working.

"It s-seems that it doesn't work, me and Akiyama have one too" Answered Himi to the silent question.

"I wonder why they would give us this" Said Takashi.

"Maybe we will find out soon" Said Takiyama.

After putting the pad back to my pocket, I clapped my hands to get attention. "Well, we need to keep moving. Staying here won't do much"

Everyone nodded as we went down the stairs. We we were climbing down until I saw Ameko lagging behind, maybe she has a serious wound.

I approached her. "Do you need help? You don't have to be afraid to ask, I don't think anyone here would refuse" I whispered to her.

She looked back at me as she shaked her head. "Don't worry, I'm fine"

"Well if you say so" I answered back as I went ahead, reaching the main group.

"...I guess we should check the other sector" Said Himi quietly.

"Yeah you're right, we checked all this sector now" Answered Alyssia back.

We grouped up the gate as Akiyama opened the doors, leading onto the next sector.

— _ **Entrance, 14:47**_

We entered the place one by one, checking the zone. The place wasn't as big as the other sectors, and there didn't seem to be any extra floors above, just a big space from the ground to the roof. This time, there seemed to be two gates, one in front of us and one to the right, the latter probably leading to the interior of the building. It was all normal until we saw the frightening sight on our left.

"W-what the hell is this?" Said Takeshi quietly as he shakened.

I too was speechless. While I didn't really acknowledge the tought, deep inside I had the hope that this was some sort of joke or trial that the Future Foundation put for us, maybe some sort of test for us to continue the program, I unconsciously held dearly to that thought, trying to find some sort of relief that everything will be fine.

But the giant metal gate in front of us told me that I completely missed the mark. The gate seemed to be a bunker, a very deadly bunker with cameras and some sort of very destructive looking weapons. The place that was in front of us told us the obvious right there. There is no escape. We were definitely trapped in here, we were at the mercy of our kidnappers, but I realized that wasn't the only thing that shook our group to our bones. It was a sign that hangs near the metal gate, containing a bone-chilling text. I didn't really understand it's full meaning, but I got what it was trying to say. It was mocking us. It mocked all of us, as I re-read the text to see if I'm understanding something wrong. It said:

 **Welcome to the Hope Cultivation Program!**

It's been a while since I've sensed the feeling I have right now, an oh so familiar feeling. The feeling that made the whole world shake and fall to its ruin.

Because, right now, the name of what I'm feeling right now, the name that scarred everyone, that feeling, was despair.

* * *

A/N: Well this is the first part of the prologue, introducing 7 participants. While I'd like to hear opinions from the overall setting, what I really want is feedback about the characters, since it's highly possible I messed up some key traits or the acted out of character. Another thing I want to mention is that in this universe, only DR1 and SDR2 are canon, so the events of DR3 didn't happen. While some characters may exist in the universe (such as Munakata or Seiko), it's possible that their personalities may change greatly to fit with the plot. The last thing I will mention is that **I will** **actualize the OCs submission list in the 30th of october, in other words, this sunday.** So that I might have more options to choose from. I hope you guys enjoyed this and that the characters were somewhat faithful to their personalities. I'll see you on the next update.

Edit #1: Fixed some grammar mistakes and completed Alyssia's appearance, since I forgot to add her accesories.


	3. Prologue 2

A/N: Well, first thing to say is that I want to thank you all for submitting your characters, I had a blast reading through all of them and viewing what sort of thing people come up with. I've closed this SYOC with satisfying characters. Second thing is that starting a fic when exams period is 1 week ahead is really not the smartest move, which is the reason for the delayed update, I've finished the exams so hopefully we'll continue without further interruptions. The last thing I want to say is that I somewhat messed up Alyssia's appearance by skipping over her accessories, so I'd like for the people who've already read the prologue 1 chapter to re-read that scene. That's all and I wish for everyone to have a good day.

* * *

— _ **Entrance, 14:50**_

We stood there unmoving while watching the bunker gate. It was something so unexpected and unrealistic that it shocked all of us, it's mere size was big enough for more than two elephants to go through, and the dangerous looking guns on the side gave a sense of dread to everyone, the message of what could happen if we tried to open it going through through all of our heads without effort.

It took me a short while to snap out of it, the previous training I've gone with this kind of situations kicking in my mind, I observed everyone's reactions to see who was the one handling it the worst. While Akiyama, Ameko and Suzume seemed to be more shocked than scared, Takashi and Himi seemed to be slightly terrified, it was Alyssia the one who seemed to be having the hardest time. She had a shocked expression plastered in her face, her hands trembling with whatever she was feeling right now, trying, and failing, to say something from her mouth.

I quickly moved in front of her, blocking her the sight from the bunker, while putting a hand in her shoulder. Suzume seemed to wake up from her shocked state when she saw me moving.

I tried to talk to Alyssia in a comforting tone, keeping an equal head level to hers and looking to her eyes. "Don't worry, everything will be okay. There must be another exit somewhere near" I said with a smile, I don't truly believe it will be that simple, but this is what she needs to hear right now. She seemed to relax at least a little.

It was then that Suzume's voice broke the silence. "Man, one would think that with the giant metal thing we would already get the message, aren't they going a bit overboard with all those guns?" She said slightly shaken up, probably trying to dissipate the air of tension in the room.

"H-heh no kidding" Said Takashi, who while he stopped shaking, his voice betrayed his anxiousness a bit.

"Either way, we should be moving. Standing here won't help us in the least" Said Akiyama quietly.

I straightened my pose as I spoke. "You're right, the only thing that we can do right now is to keep searching for more people. Perhaps there's another exit" I tried to give an air of confidence in my words, trying to give some sort of strength to the others. However, it didn't really take much effect, since it doesn't take a genius to figure out the kind of situation we were stuck on.

After all, if someone took that much time in blocking the entrance, there's no way escaping will be that easy, right?.

Shaking those thoughts out of my head I tried to lead the group out of this room, trying to force the rest to keep moving on. We were all pretty shaken up but, to be honest, this is not the worst thing we've seen by far, everyone was affected by the Tragedy after all, one way or another. I do like to believe that it made us stronger, though that can be just wishful thinking.

Either way, we tried to open the door opposite to the bunker gate and to the right of the way from where we came in. It seemingly lead to the interior of the mall. Alas, it was locked.

I tried to put a little more force to the handle of the doors in front of me, but to no avail.

"I don't think it can be opened without some sort of code, look" Said Himi as she pointed to the side of the door, where a small panel with some buttons was stuck in place, a red led light shining in the top.

"Hey, you're the Ultimate Code Decipherer right? Can't you decode it by seeing some hidden fingerprints or something?" Said Suzume in Takashi's direction.

He took a look at the device and then back at her. "It doesn't really work that way, if there was some sort of hint I could crack it, but this type of device doesn't really work like the way you think. Do you see this?" He said pointing a part of the device. "This seems to be some sort of receptor, so I think that this should open with a controller or something. The code must be for emergencies" He responded with full details.

"You… seem to know a lot about this sort of things" Said Ameko slightly surprised.

He slightly blushed and looked to the side, somewhat uncomfortable. "Well, if you're gonna decipher something you have to know what it is"

Suzume turned to my way "And can't you do, you know, some sort of glass breaking technique to break this?"

 _I can try_ , I responded while viewing the gate closer, it was identically like the others we went through. The gate was made with stained glass, making it so that I can't see anything beyond this door. It seemed pretty sturdy too. I angled my right elbow to hit right at the center of the glass, suddenly pushing the elbow with my left arm. It didn't seem to do anything though.

"No use, it's way too tough. It must be some sort of special glass or something" I said while holding my elbow. It's not a pleasant feeling to strike your elbow full force against a wall after all.

Suzume let out an exasperated sigh. "So much for us being the very best around the world, yet we can't pass one single door" She said somewhat jokingly.

"So we can't pass through?" Asked Alyssia tilting her head slightly, somewhat lost in the conversation.

"Doesn't seem like it" Answered Ameko.

"Let's just go to the other door" I said somewhat disappointingly, leading to the other door.

There didn't seem to be a problem with this one, though someone did say something when we were about to open it.

"Wait a moment, there's a device in there too" She said pointing through the gate we previously went through, leading towards the Food Sector.

"Oh, you're right" Said Akiyama who suddenly appeared behind me. It did scare me a little bit, since I could swear he was on the back of the group a moment ago.

We went back to check the previous gate, the possibility of a clue guiding us all.

"It really is the exact same device" Said Takashi as he inspected the machine, though this time it had a green light instead of the red led light that was on the other lock.

Ameko seemed confused by all this though. "Wait, I'm p-pretty sure that when we… went through the gates that thing wasn't in the side"

"Maybe it's a one way only? I mean, the gate we were going to enter just now doesn't have an electric lock either" Said Suzume as she thought aloud.

However, we our thoughts were interrupted by Alyssia. "C'mooon, what are we waiting for, I want to leave!" She said somewhat childishly while pouting a bit, like a small tantrum of sorts. I can kind of empathize with her though, since she's been shuffling and glancing sights to the notorious bunker there, she's obviously uncomfortable here.

"I guess she has a point" Said Akiyama while moving to the aforementioned gate. We quickly catched up with him and entered the gate, not without glancing at the side of the door to verify that, indeed, there wasn't an electric lock in this gate. And involuntarily, before entering, we all looked at the bunker that was sealing our fates before leaving the room, a small sense of dread climbing on all our bodies bit by bit.

— _ **Ground Floor, Services Section, 14:56**_

Like all the times before this, we entered the room and examined what was in it. While it was the same concept of a shopping mall, the room was quite different from the rest we've seen. To start with, there was no shop in this floor, unlike the rest of the sectors. However, there was a big stage near a wall, a podium in the middle of it. In front of said stage there were… 16 seats, I counted, pointing in the direction of said stage, further confirming my thoughts that it was some sort of auditorium. There were three more things that differentiated from the rest of the rooms, the first one being that there was a bathroom at the opposite side of the stage, two doors with an icon that showed the respective genders, the second one was that there was a big digital clock plastered on the top of the stage, showing the time of the day. The third and last one is some sort of notice board plastered near the bathroom, some papers pinned with some tacks. Aside from that, it shared the common trait of the other sectors, four floors and some trees in the middle of the room, in between the seats of the auditorium, and a gate at the other side, probably leading to the other sector. I quickly took a look at the side of the gate that I just went through, finding that, indeed, there was an electric device plastered in the wall. I guess we went on the opposite direction of this locks.

I was going to ask the group if they found something hidden worth noting until the other gate on the opposite side of us opened. Surprisingly, there was a group of five people in there.

"Look, people arrived!" "There's another group there!" Said both, Himi and a spiky red haired guy respectively.

The other group was just as surprised as ours. It might be because we've been sort of recruiting people to our group, but we just encountered someone who was doing the same as us. I quickly checked to see which one was their leader. While I couldn't know for sure, a woman with a wavy hair that started jet black at the top, which then transitioned into a more dark-brown, seemed to be leading the group, an air of dependance surrounding her. I quickly got in the front of my group and tried to make conversation to avoid misunderstandings.

I spoke with a firm voice. "Were you guys kidnapped too?" I said to the point, they probably know about the HCP stuff so I don't want to make needless talk, especially if they end up being the ones that trapped us here.

The aforementioned woman advanced in front of her group, perhaps trying to represent it. "So you were also invited to the Hope Cultivation Program, right?" I nodded. "Seems we are in the same situation then" She spoke in a serious yet comforting manner.

The woman, as I mentioned before, had a strange looking hair that started black from the top, which then changed to a more light-brown color in a wavy manner, the curvy light colored locks at the end reached almost half of her back. Her rounded eyes were painted in hazel color, her eyebrows were slightly brushy, but arched as well. She had a rounded face with high cheekbones and a seemingly sharp jawline,. She seemed to be pretty athletic and somewhat toned, though it didn't really show much muscle. She was wearing a sleeveless black high-low dress, the top being right below the neckline with spaghetti straps and princess seamed body. The bottom half was a slightly ruffled high-low skirt with a side slit on her left leg. The dress reached right above her ankles, Her shoes being black high-heel sandals that included straps for her toes, vamp and ankle, her ankle having a golden buckle attached. She was wearing on a silver necklace with a crescent moon, on the bottom of it some angel wings were hanging on the moon, she was also wearing a pointed arm cuff on her right arm.

The woman seemed to stop analyzing the rest of my group and extended her hand, a grin rising on her face, the tension in the room vanishing.

"Fire Captain Oshita Chiyuri at your service! How's it going sir?"

 **CHIYURI OSHITA  
** _ **Ultimate Firefighter**_

Fire captain? I guess she's a firefighter then, even more so a captain of a squad. This is actually pretty good, if she really is a captain then she should be a pretty good leader. If that's the case, then I should probably leave the position as unofficial leader in our group, since I was never good enough giving orders to lead a squad. Honestly, the only reason I was chosen for the HCP was because I was the youngest in that improvised group back then, I'm not really that special since I was never trained for that kind of thing, though I did manage to rank up to Assistant Fire Sergeant. Back on topic though, the salutation of Chiyuri sparked a sense of duty in me, kind of like when I joined in a firefighter squad, I quickly decided to act out and lift the tension in the room.

I shaked her hand back and smiled jokingly. "Aside from being kidnapped, there's nothing worth of noting captain! Ultimate Rescuer, Fire Sergeant Assistant Kasasagi Tomoya at your command!"

Behind me, Suzume seemed to be using all her strength to not laugh out loud, failing horribly at that. "Pfffff, 'Ultimate Rescuer Fire Sergeant Assistant'? Talk about a prolonged title. What's next, Hero And Savior of the World? hahahaha" I felt my cheeks burning a bit, she seemed to be having a blast though. Wish I could say the same about me.

Aside from Suzume and the red haired guy, who also seemed to be holding his laughter, the rest of the people seemed to be confused about my introduction… it's pretty awkward. Though Chiyuri seemed to pretty pleased with it.

She giggled a bit before talking. "Good job Assistant Kasasagi, you are dismissed!" She smiled for a while before continuing. "In all seriousness though, I take it that you guys haven't found an exit?"

Akiyama stepped a bit forward and answered. "We found the entrance, but it's barricaded. It has some high security, so I don't think we can go through it"

A girl from the other group seemed to lightly bit her lip before talking. "Seems like we're really trapped here after all"

The girl slightly stepped forward, letting us see her from a better angle. She had a honey-brown colored hair that was tied in a semi-skewed bun. Her eyes were brown, and beneath them there were some sleep deprived bags. We all had a bit of bags under our eyes because of the whole kidnapping thing, but it's obvious that she carried them before even coming here. Her body wasn't particularly extravagant, while she leaned more towards slender than curvy, it wasn't worth much notice really. She was wearing a somewhat modest dress with a color between red and dark orange. The dress had a slit in her on the side of her left leg, she also seemed to be wearing some white ballet shoes. Her neck was accompanied with a silver necklace with nothing really attached, and she had some neon-pink bands around her wrists.

She looked in our way and slightly nodded her head. "I'm Nina Ziegler, Ultimate Blogger. Nice to meet you"

 **NINA ZIEGLER  
** _ **Ultimate Blogger**_

After that, everyone dispersed from their groups to introduce themselves, making a mess of people everywhere, some small groups forming, Akiyama though was standing in the corner to make himself unseen. I was thinking on presenting myself to that Nina girl, though I found her talking with Alyssia near the notice board. I decided to make myself known so I could get the greetings out of the way and move on to the next person.

Nina seemed to take notice of my approach and spoke to me before I could say something. "Oh, you're that Ultimate rescuer, Kasasagi Tomoya was it?" She asked.

I nodded, though before I could say something she beat me to it. "I have to ask, what was all that about Fire Assistant and whatnot back there?" She said, a confused expression covering her face.

I felt my cheeks to slightly heat up before responding her question. "A-ah, about that. I just wanted to joke around so that the air was more comfortable, though it didn't work in the way I expected it to work." I softly scratched the back of my neck.

Nina stared at me, though I could see a slight twitch on the side of her mouth going upwards. "Well, it certainly didn't make a very good first impression"

Alyssia joined the conversation and changed the subject. "By the way, where did you wake up? It seems we all woke up in different places"

Nina glanced back to Alyssia and answered. "I woke up inside a tools shop, in the Materials Sector. Chiyuri and the rest found me laying there, and I was the last one to join in our little crusade. You can see there that the Materials Sector is connected to the sector we are currently in, just like the Entrance" She pointed towards a sketch in the notice board, some kind of circular drawing in it. I quickly understood that it was a map of the place **[1]**. I didn't really notice that we were going in a circular pattern, suppose I wasn't paying much attention. Though what I did notice, is that the place seemed to be separated in 3 "zones".

 _We're sorry for the slight interruption, though we assure you that it won't be the last time. You see, the place is formed by 8 sectors and 3 zones, which are composed of several sectors. The place is organized this way, starting from the entrance and going anticlockwise:_ _ **Entrance**_ _-_ _ **Food Sector**_ _-_ _ **Clothing Sector**_ _-_ _ **Furniture Sector**_ _-_ _ **Entertainment Sector**_ _-_ _ **Materials Sector**_ _-_ _ **Services Sector**_ _and the oh so mysterious_ _**Unknown Sector**_ _, which is in the middle of it all. Now, the zones are made of small groups of sectors,_ _ **Zone 1**_ _being composed by_ _the_ _ **Clothing Sector**_ _and the_ _ **Furniture Sector**_ _,_ _ **Zone 2**_ _composed by the_ _ **Entertainment Sector**_ _and the_ _ **Materials Sector**_ _, while finally,_ _ **Zone 3**_ _is made of the_ _ **Services Sector**_ _,_ _ **Entrance**_ _and the_ _ **Food Sector**_ _. ...Wait, what do you mean by saying "What of the Unknown Sector?", do you even know what unknown means? It means it's not of your damn concern, that's what it means. Happy? Now go back to your stereotypical teenager reunion nonsense. The map can be seen from an image that the author will provide a link of._

I decided to ask her about those zones that showed in there. "Hey do you know what this 'zones' are? They must be there for something, right?"

Alyssia spoke up. "Oh! I was asking the same thing about it before you arrived, I don't really get it"

"Well, it could be that it joins certain types of related sectors, like the Clothing and Furniture Sectors, since both have to do with home related things. But then again, it doesn't make sense that the Food Sector is connected to the Entrance" Nina said while posing a thinking position.

"It probably will mean something later on" I concluded.

"That is if we don't find an exit by then" Continued Nina, leaving the conversation finished.

I left the girls behind while searching for other new people to meet. I soon saw Ameko and Himi talking with a blonde, muscular man. I decided to approach them so I could introduce myself.

When I got close enough to have a better look, I noticed that Ameko and Himi were laughing with him, seemingly having a good time. The man in question had a dirty blonde hair and sky blue eyes, while the top of his hair was long and semi-curly, the sides of his head were shaven. He was very muscular, though not monstrously so. He seemed to be wearing a white button up shirt, his tuxedo hanging from his shoulder. In the bottom half he was wearing some black dress pants with some matching black shoes. When I looked closer, he seemed to be wearing a diamond studded earring in his left ear.

I approached them enough to make myself known. "Hey, how are you?" I asked.

He glanced back at me with some suspicion in his eyes. "Hey, you're that Fire Assistant guy, the Ultimate Rescuer was it?"

I internally sighed. "Please call me Tomoya, I don't want to be known as that guy with the awkward title"

He charismatically laughed. "Sure, no problem. The name's Luke, Luke Starkson. The Ultimate Constructor."

 **LUKE STARKSON  
** _ **Ultimate Constructor**_

He seemed to be nice so far, a bit too trusting if I say so myself. After all, we're all strangers here. "So, what were you guys talking about?" I decided to ask.

He changed his direction to Ameko and Himi. "Oh, I was just saying how much I love what you girls did with your hair. It's really cute, it just fits you" He said smoothly. Oh, I see now what kind of character he is now, he's a flirter.

Himi seemed to blush slightly while fiddling with her bands, seemingly pretty nervous. Ameko was simply smiling shyly. However, when Luke turned his attention to somewhere else, Ameko quickly adopted a disgusted expression towards him, though she quickly changed back to her normal smile a second later.

 _That… was strange._ I thought to myself as I looked at Ameko, who acted as if nothing happened. I guess I misunderstood something or just imagined it, but still, it was kind of strange.

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I quickly went back to our conversation. Making assumptions now isn't going to do anything.

"By the way, where did you wake up, Luke?" I asked out of curiosity.

He faced my direction with a smile on his face. "I woke up in the Materials Sector. I was laying in a bench when the others found me."

"And Nina was in the tools shop, right?" I said, remembering her words.

He nodded briefly, before asking his own question. "You guys passed through the entrance right? Is it really blocked off? Perhaps we can break through"

Ameko seemed to shake her head. "No, it would be i-impossible to pass without something to break through. And even then, it's armed with all sort of w-weapons, so I don't think we can escape through there" She responded.

"Oh yeah, you did say something about high security. Well, I _am_ the Ultimate Constructor after all, perhaps I can find an exit somewhere" He said.

"Hopefully. Well, I'm going to go meet the rest. See you later Luke" I said before walking away.

After I left them alone, I searched for someone else to meet. I saw Suzume and the previous red spiked hair guy talking, but I didn't really want to speak with Suzume now. It's not hard to predict the teasing I would receive from her after all. While thinking that, I saw Takashi and another guy talking while looking… up? Curious to know what they were doing, I approached them and made myself known.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Tomoya. We were seeing the second floor." The second floor?

Though instead of looking up, I examined the other person in front of me.

He had a slightly wavy dark brown hair with a messy fringe. While his skin wasn't exactly pale looking, it was in a lighter color than most. His eyes seemed to be sharp and almost almond shaped, a bright blue color painted in his eyes. He had a smile in his expression, he seemed to do that a lot I quickly realized, since the features on his face seemed to be particularly soften. A rare trait in this times really. He was wearing a half-sleeved shirt with a deep indigo color plastered in it, a sleeveless dark-grey colored leather jacket above it, though the sleeves seemed to be ripped apart, like if a long time ago it was a long sleeved jacket instead of you traditional sleeveless one. Below it there were some charcoal gray trousers accompanied with some black dressing shoes, though what was weird about it is that one of the socks are black while the other one is blue, not matching at all.

"Hello Tomoya" He said with a smile. "I'm Aoshima Yoshiki, Ultimate Nail Artist. Nice to meet you"

 **YOSHIKI AOSHIMA  
** _ **Ultimate Nail Artist**_

I greeted him back. "Same for me. Hey, what was it about the second floor you guys said?"

Yoshiki pointed towards the second floor. "Well, in most shopping malls you would be able to see at least a glance of the other shops in a floor above you, right? Well, we tried to do the same but it's just way too dark"

I looked above and saw that, indeed, the floor seemed to be covered by blackness. It was kind of strange too, since there is a good illumination from the window on the ceiling. The second floor was made in a way that the shadow would cast in the corners of the room, making the light above useless. More than that though, it was made in an angle that made it incredibly hard to see what was there, even when watching from the corner of the this floor. When I squinted, I could barely see a closed down shop, though I couldn't make out what it was for. Giving up on trying to see what was there, I decided to ask the others.

"Can you see something?" Both of them shook their head. "Well, I guess we'll have to climb up to the floor before seeing what's in it"

"Doubt it will be that easy" Yoshiki said.

When I asked why, Takashi responded. "Remember when we climbed the stairs on the Food Sector, you know, where we found Suzume?" I nodded. "Well, it wasn't the only entrance blocked, the ones in the Furniture and Materials Sector are barricaded too, Yoshiki saw them, so there's no way to go to the second floor" Concluded Takashi.

Wait, something about that seemed to be a little off, how did Yoshiki know that the Furniture Sector stairs were blocked? If I remember correctly, Himi and Akiyama searched the whole place, but they didn't found anyone, so how did he know about it.

"Where did you wake up Yoshiki?" I asked so I could get an answer to my question.

Slightly confused by my question, Yoshiki answered. "I woke up on the second floor next to the metallic fence in the Furnitures Sector, why?" He asked.

"Well, there were two people that awoke in that sector, yet you somehow must have missed them" I said.

Realization hit his face as I told that. "Oh, that might be because I didn't check the stores there. I went straight to the Entertainment Sector, where I found Chiyuri and Taiyo" That makes sense I guess, if Yoshiki woke up first than the others that is.

Either way, thinking too much about it won't help. "Oh yeah, your talent was Nail Artist, right? What exactly do you do" I asked, slightly curious if it was exactly like it sounded or there was something more to it.

"Well, it's pretty much what it sounds like really. I paint nails with whatever design they ask me of. I honestly don't really think it's much "hope" material to be scouted for the HCP. I just enjoy doing it" He said with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"And how _did_ you get scouted?"

"About a year after they captured the Remnants of Despair, the internet was brought back to life in certain zones, Japan being one of those, do you remember that?" He said. I do remember that, it was one of the most impactful things that happened when things calmed down. While the internet was nothing like before in the good days, it was still some sort of connection to the outside. Though it was in certain zones that it available, starting in Japan since the Future Foundation HQ is situated in there. If Towa Island wasn't as damaged after the attack that happened there, they might have helped to make connections better, but, alas, it's not going to happen. Most pages that were once with plenty of traffic have disappeared, since this _is_ a new server after all, and most new pages or recreations of old pages were deserted, since having a working computer and internet connection was incredibly difficult. The requirements for connecting was being in a zone where there's an internet service station working and functioning, and having an undamaged connection to said station to gain web connection. Something only workers of big recent companies, like Future Foundation, and some lucky few have been able to do. I guess Yoshiki is one of those lucky fews.

"Yeah, I do remember"

"Well, I started a blog where I posted images of the works I did and somehow Future Foundation took notice of it" He said, finishing his story. I won't lie, something doesn't feel right. I don't think the Future Foundation would pick someone only because they can paint nails. I mean, with Alyssia I can understand, she seems to be in some sort of high class family, but Yoshiki doesn't seem like that at all. Well it's not really my right to stick my nose into that, and he doesn't seem to mean any harm, so I'll just let it go. It might be some case like Akiyama, he is the Ultimate Music Box Maker after all, so I don't really know how he got scouted either. Actually now that I think about it, Ultimate Sketch Artist and Ultimate Voice Actress are also quite hard to scout. Well, I guess Future Foundation has the resources and ways to do it.

Anyway, I guess my introduction is over. I should go and say hi to Chiyuri for an actual introduction.

As I left Takashi and Aoshima, I was headed towards Chiyuri until someone called my attention.

"Hey, Fire Sergeant Assistant Ultimate Rescuer, over here!" I heard Suzume's voice calling for me. Accepting my fate, I changed directions and headed towards Suzume, who was still with the red haired boy.

"Please stop calling me that" I said tiredly.

"Sure, Ultimate Superhero. I mean, you need to have a fancy title, right?" Said Suzume with a sly grin, not that I expected much either. I changed my view to see the boy.

Looking closer, I saw that the boy, like I mentioned plenty of times before, had a short red spiky hair. Though his eyes seemed to be yellow, and his body was tanned and skinny. He was wearing a black long sleeved t-shirt, above it an unbuttoned dress shirt accompanied with some white dress pants and some black shoes. He didn't seem to be wearing anything worth mentioning as accessories.

"Anyways, you called?" I asked, looking at Suzume.

"Yeah, we wanted to hear your opinion on something" She said in a more serious tone.

The guy extended his hand to me before I could ask what did they want to talk about "I'm Taiyo Kaiza by the way, Ultimate Knife Fighter"

 **KAIZA TAIYO  
** _ **Ultimate Knife Fighter**_

Ultimate Knife Fighter? That seems a bit dangerous to be honest. But hey, if Future Foundation brought him here, them that means he won't go around waving knives everywhere, right? Anyways, I shook his hand and tried to bring the topic back.

"What was it that you guys wanted to talk about?" I asked

"It's about what Future Foundation is doing" Answered Suzume.

"Yeah, I mean, if we were invited to the HCP, then shouldn't they have noticed already that we aren't there? Why did they even kidnap us, the Remnants were taken care of after all, we won." Said Taiyo confused.

They do have a point, if someone was kidnapped at the entrance of a Future Foundation building, the headquarters no less, they should make some sort of action right?

"Maybe they haven't arrived yet, I don't think they are ignoring us at least" I said.

"But why are we in a friggin shopping mall, in the middle of who knows where then? How hard can it be to track us? Again, we're in a shopping mall for christ's sake" Said Taiyo

"I'm more curious in the why, though. Why would the kidnap us?" Asked Suzume.

I thought for a while before answering. "They might be some despair fanatics, they heard of this HPC business and decided to interfere with it"

"But how did they notice that? It wasn't freely advertised after all, it was pretty confidential, if I remember correctly, and even if they somehow got the information, from where did they get the resources? The despair cult is basically dead, there's no way they can pull this off" Said Suzume.

Taiyo spoke up. "What if it was an inside job? It would explain the resources and why we haven't heard of anything from Future Foundation. Though, then again, we did just wake up. Perhaps they're on their way?"

Somehow, I had the feeling that it wouldn't be that easy.

"It might have been an inside job, but something still doesn't feel quite right about that" Said Suzume.

"Either way, not much we can do about it I guess" Said Taiyo before sighing. "On another topic, where did you guys wake up?" Asked Taiyo with curiosity.

After we answered his question, he clarified where he woke up. "I woke up in a bookstore in the Entertainment Sector, Chiyuri and Yoshiki found me. After that, we checked the other store, but we didn't found anything" Taiyo finished. Or at least I thought he finished until he speaked again with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Oh yeah, what was all that Fire Assistant thing about, Ultimate Rescuer?"

"Well" Suzume followed before I could answer. "He clearly was trying to impress everyone with his super five word title, I mean, yours only have three so it's not nearly as impressive" Said Suzume with a smile on her face, clearly enjoying all of this.

"Excuse me Ultimate Five Worded Title, I have disgraced your presence with my measly, clearly inferior title" Said Taiyo bowing his head to me, only to burst out laughing a bit after.

Not wanting to receive any more 'special' treatment, I quickly left the group without saying a word. And I was going to do exactly that until something unexpected occurred.

The device in my pocket started vibrating.

I quickly took it out and saw on the screen that something appeared there that wasn't plastered before. They were numbers, I quickly noted, in a time format. It was displayed like ten minutes. I quickly checked my clock to see what time it was, maybe it had some connection. The time was 15:20. I looked back to the electronic pad, to find that the number were reducing.

 **00:10:00**

 **00:09:59**

 **00:09:58**

It didn't take a genius to know it was a countdown, for what though, I didn't have a clue until I saw something in the corner of the device.

It was a small white and black bear with the words 'Welcome' beneath it. The bear was waving its arms up and down, like a two frame gif. Of course, everyone knew who this was.

Monokuma.

If you don't know about him, then you've been living under a rock for all of the Tragedy, this very same condemned bear is the very face of despair, the despairs literally wearing it and causing havoc to humanity. It struck fear into me, a fear that I thought I no longer would feel after the Remnants were taken care of. A fear that quickly changed into panic as I saw each corner of the room for a sign of danger, as if someone would jump out and attack us. But instead, I saw everyone else, some with different and others with similar expressions to mine, but everyone looking at their out electric pad. Some were searching the room, others were struck with fear in their faces and others were just confused, trying to find explanation to all this nonsense.

And it was at that time, that the gates that lead to the Entrance opened, showing a guy with shocked expression.

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 **[1]** : Imgur /0QFvHEJ (Add .com after imgur)

AN: Well, this definitely took longer than I thought it would, checking back and forth between the characters and double reading their profiles is quite time consuming, but hopefully I got their personality somewhat right. Some might act a bit OOC, but that's because they were just kidnapped, not many people would just do their usual routine after that. In the Free Time event they should act exactly like they should.

I was originally going to end the prologue in this chapter, but I realized it was starting to get too long, so it was better to split the prologue in 3 chapters instead of 2. The last 4 of the cast will be revealed in the next and final chapter of the prologue. Because I split this chapter into two, I've got about half written for the next one, so hopefully it should go out next week. I've also drawn, an absolute masterpiece if I say so myself, the place where the fic will take part of, it's in my profile and just above this AN if you guys want to see it. That's it, hope you have a good day!

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 **Bonus:**

I took a better look at the map and saw how… _bad_ drawed it was. It was completely disproportionated, the two circles were slightly moved, the doors were poorly drawn, the lines indicating the zones passed right through the map itself, even the atlas for the colors were disproportionate, some circles bigger than the others. And why was there a giant ? in the middle. I mean, sure, it's a secret and mysterious, but c'mon, couldn't whoever drew this put more effort into it?

"It's so bad drawn…" I said disappointingly.

"Honestly, if they are going to take all this precautions for trapping us here, couldn't they have at least done the map right?" Said Nina with a sigh.

"What's this big interrogation sign in the middle?" Asked Alyssia.

Nina answered. "Who knows, but you guys said it's locked right?" We nodded. "Then it doesn't really matter right now"

"But still…" I said looking at it back.

"It's so bad..." "It's disappointing..." "It looks lazy…" Said Nina, me and Alyssia respectively.


End file.
